Consultant in Respiratory and General Medicine

Job responsibilities

This is a new post (indicative 10 PAs) based at West Suffolk Hospital.

Key tasks:

Provide advice and day to day management of medical inpatients with respiratory disease.

Provision of outpatient services in respiratory medicine including contribution to the pleural clinic and the HOT/AMU clinic.

To take part in the medical on call rota and to manage medical inpatients.

Teaching and training of intermediate, junior staff, nursing staff and medical students.

To actively participate in clinical governance and audit.

To maintain and develop continuing professional development (CPD).

The appointee will be expected to help provide a clinical service in Respiratory and General (Internal) Medicine and will be required to undertake emergency on-call work in accordance with the existing on-call rota.

The appointee will be on-call 1:10 on weekdays and at weekends (On-call rota currently under review). The in-patient beds will be shared with Dr Carolina Caprario, Dr Phillippa Lawson, Dr Thomas Pulimood, Dr Ludmila Shulgina, Dr Nicola Tregay, and Dr Jessica White, Consultants in Respiratory and General Medicine.

All medical staff are now ward based, and the appointee will conduct two ward rounds weekly on ward G9. There are five doctors in training based on that ward including one FY2, one CMT, one STGP trainee and two FY1s. They are supported by two SpRs specialising in Respiratory with General Medicine.

The appointee will be responsible for emergency care ward rounds when on call. The division of medicine operate a physician of the day service, with the on-call physician starting the ward round on the following morning. The on-call physicians clinics are cancelled on the following morning.

It is envisaged that the appointee would provide two weekly general Respiratory clinics but would also have responsibility for the daily Pleural/Hot clinics.

We have excellent links with our regional consultant colleagues. The Respiratory team also includes two specialist registrars, 3 Clinical Nurse Specialists, and 9 Respiratory Nurse/Physio Specialist within the COPD team.

We have close liaison with our surgeons and radiological colleagues and participate in a Weekly lung cancer MDT.

The on-call rota will be on a 1:10 basis with the appointment to this post (On-call rota currently under review). If the candidate is unexpectedly asked to cover weekends or bank holidays, they would be given time off in lieu.

A job plan will be agreed by the Clinical Director in the first instance and approved by the Medical Director on behalf of the Chief Executive. This plan will be reviewed annually and will provide an opportunity for discussion of the individuals personal development plan and for appraisal. The annual review will be used to check that the record of fixed and flexible sessions is accurate and compliant with the EWTD, covers on-call commitments and is compatible with the agreed template for the speciality and that any problems arising can be resolved. This also provides an opportunity for constructive debate about the individuals personal development plan including CPD and any evolving special interests, which the appointee may wish to pursue. Further SPA time will be available if the post holder wishes to take on other additional responsibilities such as clinical governance lead or educational supervision of trainees.

Category II work may be undertaken within the Terms and Conditions of Service and may be discussed and revised at this review.

Clinical Governance/Audit is undertaken as an ongoing programme within the Region. It is expected that the appointee will be actively involved in this, and all routine clinical duties should be suspended during these sessions.

The new appointee will have the opportunity to be mentored by a senior consultant in the department on a weekly basis. Dr Thomas Pulimood will be the lead mentor.

The West Suffolk Hospital is a District General Hospital built in 1974. It serves a population of around 280,000 in the western part of Suffolk and southern part of West Norfolk.

Acute medical services are currently provided by sixteen (full time equivalent) physicians. The Hospital has a 24-hour Accident and Emergency Department and a full range of Medical, Surgical and other specialties, with a total of around 480 beds. In addition, there is a Day Surgery Unit and a Hospice with a 10 bedded unit. Acute Medicine has 26 assessment beds and short stay ward of 34 beds including an Ambulatory Care Unit. There is a newly developed Cardiac Centre which opened in November 2018 with a wide range of facilities.

In-patients are triaged to their most appropriate medical speciality ward e.g., cardiac, acute respiratory, stroke unit etc. There is a well-structured multidisciplinary team meeting on each ward which will set goals to facilitate a reduction in length of stay.

Please see Job Description attached for further details

Experience

Essential

• Clinical training and experience equivalent to that required for gaining UK CCT in General Medicine.
• Experience in management of acute medical inpatients and medical outpatients
• Ability to take full and independent responsibility for clinical care of medical patients
• Clinical training and experience equivalent to that required for gaining UK CCT in Respiratory
• Experience in management of Respiratory inpatients and outpatients
• Ability to offer expert clinical opinion on a full spectrum of Respiratory patients

Qualifications

Essential

• MRCP or equivalent
• Full GMC registration
• Entry on the GMC specialist register in Respiratory and General (Internal) Medicine or be within six months of attaining Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training at the time of interview

Desirable

• MD or PhD

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Depth and breadth of experience in acute ward based and out-patient medicine and Respiratory
• All applicants to have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues which could be demonstrated by one of the following:-
• -that applicants have undertaken undergraduate medical training in English; or -Have the following scores in the academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS)-Overall 7.5 Speaking 7, Listening 7, Reading 7, and Writing 7.
• If applicants believe that they have adequate communication skills, but do not fit into one of the examples they need to provide evidence

Teaching and Training, Research and Publications

Essential

• Experience of supervising FY1s, FY2s StRs and SpRs (or equivalent)
• Ability to teach clinical skills
• Able to demonstrate experience of delivering teaching
• Ability to apply research outcomes to clinical problems
• Publications in peer reviewed journals

Desirable

• Experience of teaching basic clinical skills to undergraduates
• Ability to supervise postgraduate research
• Applicant to have attended a teaching course
• Ability to supervise research projects

Personal skills, Qualities and, Special Aptitudes

Essential

• Good personal interactive communications skills: clarity of expression and purpose
• The ability to work as a team member
• Acceptance of management and administrative duties by working within a structured hospital team for the greater good
• Enquiring, critical approach to work
• Caring attitude to patients
• Ability to communicate effectively with patients, relatives, GPs, nurses and other agencies
• Commitment to Continuing Medical Education and the requirements of Clinical Governance
• Self-motivated: able to act on own initiative
• Enthusiasm and dynamism to improve, monitor and sustain the highest achievable clinical standards
• To possess an enquiring mind, generally challenging the status quo to ensure clinically effective evidence-based best practice
• Capacity to accept full responsibility to lead a clinical team
• To teach and train all human resources from a wide spectrum of skills, background, abilities and experience

Management & Audit Training

Essential

• Ability to advise on efficient and smooth running of the Respiratory service
• Ability to organise and manage day to day service delivery e.g. out-patient priorities
• Ability to manage and lead strategic developments in service delivery
• Experience of audit management
• Ability and willingness to work within the Trust and NHS performance framework and targets

Clinical Governance, Appraisal and Standards

Essential

• To have a broad understanding of all elements of, and a commitment to the principles of Clinical Governance
• To have training and experience in appraisal systems
• To have a thorough knowledge and demonstrable understanding of Good Medical Practice from the GMC

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).